Shadow of Ebony
by NewMagicWeaver
Summary: Ebony is on holiday in Las Vegas, and when she hears the tormented screams of a girl, she stumbles across the supernatural, and the Night World.
1. Chapter 1

**Shadow of Ebony**

Chapter 1- Ebony

I stumbled across Circle Daybreak when I was visiting Las Vegas, one night.

I heard a scream from just outside the restaurant I was eating in with my family, and the next thing I knew, I was running towards the sound. It was a definite female which screamed,

"Help! Please somebody help!"

_Should I call 911? _I pulled my mobile from my jeans pocket and ran straight into the darkened alley, unable to stop, the night blurring around me. Adrenaline rushed through my veins.

And that was when I saw him.

His face was like an angel, flawless and creamy skin. His eyes and hair were as dark as midnight. His clothes were black: black trousers, a black tight-fitted t-shirt, and black shoes.

"What?" I muttered. I was certain I had heard the scream of a girl. He was staring at me in obvious shock. He glanced behind him. I noticed the body of someone lying on the ground. A girl. Her throat was ripped open, blood gushing from the wound. Her hair was long, blonde and fell over her pale face.

A red liquid dripped from his mouth; _blood!_

"Ohmigod!" I whispered, staggering backwards.

"Who are you?" he stuttered, staring directly into my eyes, making me nauseous. He bared his teeth with a faint, aggressive growl.

"You're a monster!" I screamed; my body turned around, as if in slow motion. The words were escaping my mouth before I could think. I sprinted away from the alley.

And then, as if I had stood still, a hand grabbed my shoulder hard, making me stagger backwards. My heart launched, thudding against my chest. My breathing stopped as the creature dragged me up against a wall, and held me there with unnatural, merciless strength. He glared into my eyes; his inhuman beauty filled my vision, weakening me. I stood paralysed.

His hand came to my throat, his fingers brushing my long hair off my shoulder. The ice-cold skin lightly made contact with my skin. Bare skin to bare skin. It felt like he had touched my soul.

My knees collapsed below me. I was almost falling… Until strong hand held my shoulders, supporting me. I didn't realise at first that he was holding me. My breathing suddenly quickened as my eyes closed.

_What's happening? _My mind stuttered, bewildered. I couldn't think.

_What... _ a different voice other than mine was in my head. His voice. Although I had only heard him speak once, it was undoubtedly his voice. Inside my head, he was raiding through my thoughts.

_Why are you inside my head? _It was a stupid question, but it was all I could manage.

_I'm not… who are you? _

Images flashed instantly into the front of my mind. Images of me. I tried to force them back, I tried to shield them from him, but I just couldn't. I saw myself reflected in all of my memories.

_Ebony… _The sound of his voice speaking my name filled my head.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Hannah

Las Vegas was more busy than usual as the night darkened. Just my luck. The only night I was available to go shopping with Thierry was the exact night that everyone else in California wanted to go shopping. And the MacJewel jewellers were the most hectic.

I strolled through the glass doors with Thierry, his arm around me. Everyone was glaring at us. Among other people, I saw a twelve-year-old girl, along with her family, spin around from looking at a necklace through a glass display. She was probably from London, judging the way she looked down on us through her nerdy, posh glasses. What was she glaring at? Hadn't she seen a gal with her boyfriend before? Okay, maybe I wasn't with my boyfriend. The term_ 'Soulmate'_ suited it more. Or fiancé.

It had been approximately two years since I first met Thierry, at least in this life. I had been with him through most of my past lives, but I'd died before I turned seventeen. The circle was eventually broken.

In a month, I'd be nineteen.

I glanced away from the twelve-year-old, holding my head up high. Around the shop, a selection of jewellery was spread. I was looking at rings. Wedding rings. Oh, God, that thought made me shiver.

"Over there." The voice of my Soulmate sounded in my ear as he guided me to the far end of the shop. Behind the glass cabinet, I saw golden rings, complete with diamonds. A sign near the middle of the display said: _Free personalised message of love inside any ring._ The prices were also listed. Some were as cheap of fifty dollars. Some over two hundred dollars for each ring, others even stretched to one thousand.

"You can have any ring you want." He told me quietly.

_No! _I thought.

"I don't want you spending thousands on my ring. There's no point…" It was all I could say, as a sudden sensation of nausea swept through me.

"Why not? I've waited thousands of years for us to be together. I've seen you die thousands of times. Being with you now is just the happiest time of my eternal life. I will spend as much as possible on you."

I glanced up at him, smiling. He leaned closer to me and went in for a kiss. I pulled away slowly.

"You know I don't like to be kissed in public." I reminded him.

_Sorry._ I heard his voice touch my mind. It had been a long time since he had done this. I shivered lightly. I grinned up at him as he glared apologetically into my eyes.

He tore his eyes away from mine.

"Excuse me." A woman walked up to us. "We have some customers complaining that you are taking up room in front of the ring stand. If you're not looking at something, please leave."

God, she was in a bad mood. I noticed she was middle-aged, with a badge on her t-shirt saying her name, "_Crystal_". It also had _'MacJewel Assistant'_ under her name. Her hair was bleached blonde, short and looked like straw statically straightened, out of control.

"We _are_ looking at something," Thierry informed her. I saw anger swell in his eyes. I rolled my eyes at her and turned back to Thierry.

_Don't… _I warned him telepathically.

"Well, can I be of any assistance?" the shop assistant asked, her expression unchanged.

"Um, we're looking for rings." I stuttered.

"Wedding rings, actually." Thierry told her. I felt another shiver run up my spine. I forced a cheesy smile on my face, trying to look convincing, although any good expression reader could see how scared I actually was.

"For whom?" the shop assistant asked as if it wasn't obvious. I exchanged glances with my Soulmate.

"For us…" he answered.

"Okay… and how old are you, girl." Crystal, the shop assistant glared into my eyes.

"Nineteen." I answered, instantly regretting it. It wasn't the exact truth, but close enough.

"Are you sure you're old enough to get married?"

I gave a fleeting look at Thierry.

"Why not? The legal age is sixteen, at least last time I checked. It might younger than other people might want to be married, but it is my choice." I added silently, _you don't know the full story to this relationship. _I wouldn't get married at the age of eighteen if it was a _normal _situation. However, my Soulmate was not human. He hadn't been human for over a thousand years. He was a vampire. And recently, I had decided to join him for all eternity.

Thierry was a lord of the Night World, a society of vampires, witches, shape shifters, werewolves, dragons and numerous other creatures of darkness. He ruled over an outcast group of people of the Night World and humans alike, called Circle Daybreak. These members of the Circle had either wanted peace with humans or had broken Night World laws, such as making a human aware of the existence of the Night World, or had fallen in love with a human. Thus, they had joined Circle Daybreak for protection.

He had proposed to me after we saw a movie at the cinemas. New Moon. It made me think, because like Bella, I was in love with a vampire. Bella had always wanted to be a vampire, but since Edward would not turn her, she had nightmares of still being with Edward at the age of ninety, and human. This would have happened to me. I love Thierry. I couldn't imagine life without him. I had to become a vampire. I had to be immortal.

I had to be turned soon. I would die if I reached twenty. It would be too late to be a vampire. At this age, any attempts to be turned into a vampire would end in inevitable death. I was almost nineteen. Time was slowly running out.

"Okay, whatever, would you like assistance?"

I couldn't stand being in this shop with this woman any longer.

_Let's go. _I telepathically told Thierry.

"No. We'll find a _different _jeweller's. It doesn't matter." He told her before we departed from the shop.

The street was still busy as we left the shop.

"God, what was her issue?" It was more of a statement than a question. "It's none of her business how old I am."

"Let's go back to the Circle. I've had enough for tonight." He glanced at the sky. It was just after sunset, and the moon had already risen and the sky was almost the deep shade of blue, the colour of night.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Ebony

_Get out of my head! _I almost screamed out loud. _Who are you? Why are you doing this? _My breath was jagged, rough as I tried to shake this crazy creature out of my head.

Suddenly images touched my mind. Images I had never seen before, pictures of _Him. _I found my mind systematically sorting through the pictures. _You're a Vampire? _I stuttered, bewildered as I saw an image of him ripping out the throat of humans. I'd read about vampires in books. I didn't know they existed. _You've always been like this…_ images of him as a child flashed through my mind. A pale child with dark hair: He looked like death himself.

_Taurus. _That was his name.

_I've always been a vampire. I was born one. I'm a lamia. I shouldn't be telling you this. I'm breaking all the rules. _

He was as stunned about this as I was.

_I don't understand…_

_I can't say more._

Suddenly, a telepathic wall blocked my mind from his. Dumbfounded, I stared up at him.

I saw his lips draw back from his teeth and his eyes shone silver like the moon, painlessly piercing my mind. He was fighting something, but eventually failed. He was holding me with such strength that I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. His mouth came to my throat.

_He was a vampire. _

_I was his lunch! _

Thoughts of terror and confusion raced through my mind. I assessed my near surroundings. _Could I protect myself? What could I use?_ I saw his mouth so close to my throat, his fangs bared, at the exact angle to slash into my throat. I was helpless, hopeless, against him. I closed my eyes tightly, wishing it to be a dream. My heartbeat was counting down the endless seconds until the end of my life.

Cold breath tickled my neck and the hairs rose.

A second later, the pain came. The impact, with such preciseness as a predator, of the cold fangs piercing my veins caused my eyes to shoot open with a sharp intake of breath. I felt one of his hands come to the back of my neck, gently forcing my head back. Numbness grew from my neck; spread downward though my veins, around my body, and weakness dispersed from every inch of my body. I tried to allow the blood to be drained from my veins, though my confused mind on autopilot, struggled against it.

My soul was being torn from my body, second by second. He drank harder for a countless amount of seconds.

_No! please… _I begged. All I could feel was agony. I was going to die!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Hannah

We strolled through the darkened street, passing many shops, some closing for the night and others crowded with people. The crowd of people outside had decreased slightly and the night breeze was gentle blowing through my hair. Thierry's arm was around me, holding me close as we walked.

It had been five minutes since we left the horrible jewelers, and we were very close to the Circle Daybreak Headquarters. I recognized this street. The Headquarters had become my home since I moved out of my family's house after I graduated. I grinned in relief. When I got back, I would have a nice, hot bath.

I glanced at the watch on my wrist, which was a present for my Soulmate. It read half nine. If I was a normal human, I'd regard this time as late, but after spending so much time around vampires, witches and other beings of the Night World, I've changed my opinion.

"I can't wait to get back!" I told Thierry, who smiled at me.

"I'm sorry we didn't manage to get your ring." He stated.

"Yeah. Well, there are loads of other shops. If worst comes to worst, I'll just wear your family ring." Thierry had kept a ring with a black rose over the years. The Black Rose was the symbol of made vampires ever since the day Maya, the first lamia vampire turned Thierry into a vampire, in hope that he would be her's for all eternity. Obviously, that plan changed when he met me as Hana of the Three Rivers, thousands of years ago. After that, Maya had tried to keep him away from me through all of my lives. Thierry had eventually slaughtered her to save me two years ago.

Abruptly, as we walked past a darkened alley, Thierry stopped rigidly.

"There's a vampire close." He whispered, "It might be an agent from the Night World Council." As Circle Daybreak broke the laws by making some humans aware of the existence of the Night World, the council was constantly trying to break into the headquarters.

"Where?" I asked, glancing around me.

"Dunno." he turned to the alley. "Oh my God!"

Thierry was racing towards it before I even had a chance to see what he saw.

_What is it? _I reached out to his mind as I sprinted after him. It took me seconds to catch up with him, and when I did, I saw what was happening.

A vampire was feeding off a young girl.

_We have to get him off of her, before he kills her! _I heard his voice in my head.

_How? _I asked, trying to stay calm.

_I'll call the guards telepathically. We might need to restrain him! _The Guards of Circle Daybreak: strong vampires and shape-shifters who protect the Daybreakers from danger. Then, after waiting a few long seconds for him to contact the guards, Thierry tapped the vampire on the shoulder, hard enough for him to angrily withdraw his fangs from the girl's bleeding throat.

The vampire, with hair and eyes as dark as midnight, lunged at my Soulmate, dropping the girl on the ground.

"What are you doing?" I heard a shout from Thierry. He punched the vampire in the face once, knocking him against the wall. "You should know it is illegal to feed like that in Las Vegas, in _my _territory."

"And who are you?" the vampire growled as he blocked a punch thrown at him by Thierry.

"I am the Lord of Circle Daybreak. I am Thierry Descouedres. You are breaking the laws of my land. What is your name, intruder?"

"I am Taurus Blackthorn."

I didn't continue watching Thierry and the other vampire. Instead I turned to the girl, who was unconscious on the floor. She had short, light blonde hair, and a side fringe covered most of her face. She was wearing dark, sparkly jeans and a black, strappy top. Cradling her head in my arms, I checked for a pulse.

I felt a faint throb in the side of her neck.

At that moment, I saw people running down the alley: The Guards.

"Take him back to Headquarters. Lock him below." Thierry ordered the assortment of shape-shifters and vampires, who instantly obeyed, some taking the vampire away. About three stayed back.

"She's lost a lot of blood." I told them, trying to stand and drag her up with me.

"It's okay. We'll be fine." Thierry told the remaining members of the Guards, signaling them to leave, and lifted the girl into his strong arms. "We'll take her back with us and ask one of the healing witches to fix her, and erase her memory."

I nodded at him in agreement, as we walked back to the Circle.


End file.
